Is AI Art Good or Bad for Artists?

AI-generated artworks are under scrutiny, with some artists challenging the validity of an AI art search engine in a world dominated by skilled creatives and professionals such as graphic designers, architects, and game developers.

However, there is an opposing argument that AI might be beneficial, making art accessible, low-cost, and a creative outlet for anybody who wants to express themselves or design something unique.

How Does AI Art Impact Artists and Creators?

Artwork generators help people to experiment with prompts and input phrases to explore ideas or techniques or create a tone or aesthetic, even if they do not have access to conventional tools.

How does AI art work? It uses machine learning to identify what each element of your input phrase means and build a new, original graphic using its knowledge of shapes, colours, and correlating aspects such as size and height. Many critics feel that AI effectively steals existing artwork and patches it together, threatening artists who pour time and effort into their work.

So, does AI art steal art, and could it infringe copyright protections? In short, no–AI used responsibly does not copy and paste images, nor does it work like an advanced photoshop tool to add layers on top of pre-existing graphics.

Instead, it observes, learns, and then uses its evolving understanding of objects, spaces, and textures to try and match your phraseology, which you can then edit and adjust as necessary or try different themes and styles to achieve your desired outcome.

Is AI Art a Danger to Conventional Artists?

There are some scenarios where AI-generated art could overtake other art forms in popularity; however, it is important to remember that low-quality imagery, whether handmade or AI-generated, will never carry greater value than a skilled, immersive creation. While AI art has presented the industry with a challenge, adapting to new technologies is not unique to the art world–think robotics in manufacturing and logistics, automation in home appliances and electric motors in cars.

It is also very unlikely that even the smartest algorithm will remove the reliance on artists in sectors where design capabilities are key. For example, an architect might use an AI art generator to test different ideas or play with colours and materials. Still, their underlying structural and engineering knowledge would remain essential; nobody would construct a building based solely on a machine-generated graphic! 

What Are the Benefits of AI Art for Artists?

One of the primary advantages of AI art is that it can save a phenomenal amount of time and human effort. Artists could create new compositions with thousands of variants in a fraction of the time, thus refining their skills and speeding up the art production process.

Professional artists rarely put pen straight to paper and spend the bulk of their time sketching ideas, planning, and formatting their thoughts. AI generators can eliminate a large proportion of that time in experimenting and brainstorming, allowing artists a greater focus on building a rich portfolio, knowing from step one that the result will match their aspirations.

Experimenting With Colours and Styles

Clients often commission artists to create something to a brief, but they may have free reign to decide how they interpret it. If you were to enlist help from two portrait artists, one might paint or draw, and another might use photography, but every result would be different.

AI artwork allows artists to try unusual techniques, sample new styles, or discover fresh ways to produce and put a spin on their artwork.

Reduced Time and Wastage

Art materials are expensive. Spending weeks working on a piece of art that doesn’t deliver can cause untold expense and frustration–or even contribute to creative blocks, where an artist knows what they want to create but can't quite match delivery and technique.

AI-generated art removes material waste, lost time, and investment in prototypes that go wrong, making the creative process quicker, more environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and ultimately more fun!

Engagement and Expansion

While some may consider art a form of creative expression reserved for the most talented individuals, artists who embrace their following and share their ideas and inspirations can quickly gain greater exposure.

AI is exciting, innovative, and limitless, and can be an excellent way to attract attention, discuss new ways to make art accessible, and even produce financial advantages, where collectors are keen to get involved with a new and evolving art form or build demand for unique works with an AI influence.

Using AI art generators as a tool–like a more precise brush, a sharper chisel, or a richer pigment of paint–could help artists reimagine how they approach their work